Success Next Year?

[lospistones]

-Give Ben Gordon the minutes and shot attempts it took him to be successful with Chicago. Period. Play him strictly at SG, and give him the green light to be an assassin. We overpaid for him to begin with, the least we can do is have him match his previous production. I crunched the numbers, and this would entail him receiving over 30mpg and shooting anywhere from 16-19 FGs a game. He should be one of our top two options, period.

-Give Hamilton minutes. It's eerie, but his PER36 numbers are identical across the board relative to his career PER36 averages. Prior to last season (when he was straight up ditched by Kuester), he averaged about 34mpg. Also, use him the way he's most effective. Play him off the ball and give him screens and curling opportunities, and also encourage him to get to the line. He should also be one of our top two options whenever on the floor.

-Have Stuckey pattern his game after Rondo/Kidd rather than Wade/Rose. He has the size and strength and athletic ability to dominate the position...via rebounding and passing. He is the 23rd strongest PG to ever bench at the combine, and only five stronger are currently in the league (only Deron and Nelson top him as starters). He should be aiming to be a floor general and a triple double threat, rather than a possible 30 point scorer. The fool needs to get in the post, too.

-Go with three guards, moving Hamilton to the SF. Pair them with two of our intangible/rebounding bigs (Monroe, Jerebko, Wallace, hopefully our rookie C) and run/gun. I understand that small-ball was a Michael Curry favorite, but he was trying this shit with 6'0" Allen Iverson, not a great shooter.
We simply have to get Hamilton and Gordon minutes and shots, and they may need to share floor time to get it.

-Use a zone! At least, against those teams that don't live and die by the three. There are only four starting PGs who have longer wingspans than Stuckey (Rose, Westbrook, Wall, Devin Harris) and only Wall has a better standing reach. Only Gay and Durant have longer wingspans than Daye (and both have shorter standing reaches). I can't find measurements on Hamilton or Jerebko...but Villanueva's standing reach is elite (only three inches shorter than the highest ever), definitely in the top 25% of PFs. Say we get Biyombo? He has the fifth longest wingspan ever recorded. I realize that the zone was part of Flip Saunders' shtick, but it could be effective on this team, especially if a small frontcourt (think Villanueva or Maxiell at C, which happens) or backcourt is adopted for whatever reason. It might be necessary to prevent a lot of these slashing PGs from having their way with us.

-Use Villanueva and Monroe as high post facilitators/playmakers. Hell, we could even run the offense through Monroe from the low post and go inside-out (as well as Wallace, man has he gotten crafty). Villanueva shouldn't just camp up at the perimeter to hoist threes. On offense, he's actually a triple threat, especially from the PF position. We should exploit his versatility and repertoire.

My ideal lineup:
Stuckey 32/Bynum 16/...White
Hamilton 16/Gordon 32/Stuckey
Daye 20/Hamilton 16/Jerebko 12
Jerebko 18/Villanueva 26/...Maxiell
Monroe 32/Wallace and ROOKIE 20

If the MLE is still around, this would be the year to use it on a SF. I simply don't trust Daye yet and prefer him to be a deep bench utility man. I'd even keep McGrady, if he were willing to re-up for 2-3 years. Beyond that? I'd give Al Thornton and Josh Howard and Earl Clark looks.

Is any of this not feasible?
I don't expect to see many changes made to this roster, but I do believe that we have a ton of talent on this roster that's just waiting to be used correctly. Honestly, I think this team could be a top 4-5 team in the East soon (factoring in a Boston decline and Dwight possibly leaving Orlando).

[DrRay11]

yeah, it's not feasible because these clowns have no mentality.

[Koolaid]

it's too late for stuckey to be modeled after rondo/kidd. it was probably never possible. It's like saying CV should model his defense after Garnett. It would require swapping brains.

as for BG getting more shots, see what i wrote above. especially planning on Rip getting the same amount of touches as he used to. Rondo might be the only guy in the league who could pull that off. Stuckey certainly can't, because he's more concerned with shooting himself.

[Timone]

Glan wouldn't mind if Stuckey shot himself

[Glenn]

Glan wouldn't mind if Stuckey shot himself

Would ideally like to see him traded first, so we can get something for him.

[Joe Asberry]

it cant get a lot worse than this, that is for sure, who knows with a solid coach, Jonas, lottery rookie + any trades this team could be right back in the playoffs, the east is not really that good...its possible


about Jonas, must read Langlois propaganda
http://www.nba.com/pistons/features/...ns_110421.html

[Glenn]

re: los' post, my takes

General agreement on some things, disagreement on others, such as...

Making Stuckey a PG. It hasn't worked, it won't work, let alone dreaming that he'll not only be an acceptable PG, but Rondo/Kidd level? That's nuts. He's got bad handles and zero court vision. This is not debatable.

Rip can't play how we know he can, coming off screens/curls, without a legitimate PG that can get him the ball at the right time and in the right places. Been saying this for years, so sorry to sound like a broken record, but Stuckey passing to Rip is fail.

I would keep Jerebko, Monroe, Bynum, maybe Rip (rather than have to pay to get rid of him) and maybe Daye, but all of the rest can go for all I care.

My priority would be to get something in a S&T for Stuckey (either another young player with comparable value or an expiring contract and a 1st round pick) and then try like hell to move Charlie and Gordon. Easier said than done.

[lospistones]

it's too late for stuckey to be modeled after rondo/kidd. it was probably never possible. It's like saying CV should model his defense after Garnett. It would require swapping brains.

as for BG getting more shots, see what i wrote above. especially planning on Rip getting the same amount of touches as he used to. Rondo might be the only guy in the league who could pull that off. Stuckey certainly can't, because he's more concerned with shooting himself.

Well, last year the team averaged 81 shot attempts per game. By going uptempo (with our smaller backcourt/youth/general athleticis)m and/or improving the defense AT ALL (which was ranked 28th last year) and/or putting an emphasis on offensive rebounding (we only had 11 a game last year), I'm sure we could get easily up that number,
Say 16 for Hamilton, 16 for Gordon, 12 for Stuckey, 10 for Villanueva, 10 for Monroe, 8 for Jerebko, 6 for Daye, 6 for Bynum, 4 for the backup C. That totals to 82 right there, and brings us to what I'd say is a reasonably fair and even shot distribution.
As a matter of fact Stuckey, only averaged about 12 shots a game last year, so this should be nothing new to him.

[lospistones]

re: los' post, my takes

General agreement on some things, disagreement on others, such as...

Making Stuckey a PG. It hasn't worked, it won't work, let alone dreaming that he'll not only be an acceptable PG, but Rondo/Kidd level? That's nuts. He's got bad handles and zero court vision. This is not debatable.

Rip can't play how we know he can, coming off screens/curls, without a legitimate PG that can get him the ball at the right time and in the right places. Been saying this for years, so sorry to sound like a broken record, but Stuckey passing to Rip is fail.

I would keep Jerebko, Monroe, Bynum, maybe Rip (rather than have to pay to get rid of him) and maybe Daye, but all of the rest can go for all I care.

My priority would be to get something in a S&T for Stuckey (either another young player with comparable value or an expiring contract and a 1st round pick) and then try like hell to move Charlie and Gordon. Easier said than done.

I'm not saying he'd be as good as Rondo or Kidd (I would never bet that he will be an NBA champion, make an all-defense team, play in an all-star game, or make an all-nba team), but he could focus on using his size and strength as an advantage as a floor general. If Jason Williams can settle down and lead the league in A/TO ratio, there's hope for anybody, as White Chocolate is a knucklehead.
Chauncey made the transformation, and he did it alongside Rip (who we still have), Tayshaun (same frame and range as Daye), Rasheed (essentially, Villanueva on offense), and Ben (still on the team, Monroe could be even better). That's what I'd sell him on. This SAME blueprint of a team got Chauncey a championship, a finals MVP, five all-star games, 3 all-nba teams, two all-defensive teams, and a big contract that ended at FOURTEEN! million a year. I think the right coach could get him to refocus, and by that I mean ANY coach that has had actual success and a scrotum.

and if Stuckey can't do it, we run the offense through Monroe in the high post and give Bynum more minutes (who produces assists more often than Rodney). Greg averaged 4apg as a C in college, and we should exploit his ability regardless of Stuckey's willingness.

I'm all for making trades and consolidating talent and getting bad apples off this team, but I just don't think it's going to happen. If I were the owner I'd pull a James Dolan-Isiah Thomas and tell Joe D, "alright, you constructed this roster. You have one season to pick a coach and prove to me that this core actually had a purpose".

[Koolaid]

people always talk about running the offense through Monroe, it's not really possible. How is a guy supposed to get position, wait for teammates to get open, be a post presence and do it consistently when he can only be in the paint for three seconds? You'd basically need to run an offense just to run an offense. Or you could just have him get the ball at the top of the key, but then you likely have no post presence. A big with good court vision is nice, but it's not a substitute for a point guard.


As for Stuck only shooting 12 times a game, it doesn't really matter to me. He's definitely looking for his own shot much more than he's looking to get his teammate's in position to score, and although the number 12 is pretty shocking to me, to me it's just a sign that he really is that bad at what he's always trying to do. How often does he catch some one off a screen? How about let somebody establish post position? Does he run a pick and roll to get his teammate a mismatch, an open shot or a lane? Does he penetrate and kick it out to one of the many shooters he has on his team? Good PGs find their guys those looks about 20 times a game. Stuck does it about 5 times a game, and they convert about half of those looks. The other assists he gets are him passing to his guys way outside of where they should be because Stuck can't keep his dribble. They go face up for themselves. Every single back court player or shooter that has played with Stuck has seen a serious drop in their production. Am I really supposed to think it's a coincidence or some shit?

the only questions I have left about Stuckey are why the hell does some of the piston's fan base support him and does anyone outside of those idiots still think he has value (specifically another team's gm). I honestly can't think of a player that hurts his team's offense more then he does, because most of the guys who suck don't have the privilege of forcing up shots and making better players take a back seat. I'm at the point where I don't even want him to succeed really. If he somehow flipped and did a 180 next season I'd keep my mouth shut, but I wouldn't be happy about it. It's hard to root for a dude who took center stage in making the Pistons suck for three straight years.